Marita Dingus

Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1956, Dingus earned a BFA in 1980 from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, and an MFA at San Jose State University in 1985.{{Cite web|url=http://www1.seattleartmuseum.org/rsg_bios/Marita%20Dingus1.pdf|title=About Marita Dingus|date=201|website=Seattle Art Museum|access-date=1 February 2019}}

She married Preston Hampton in 2012.{{Cite web|url=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=61233&h=2778947&usePUB=true&_phsrc=FRV1&_phstart=successSource&requr=2533274790690816&ur=0&gsfn=&gsln=&h=2778947|title=Washington, Marriage Index, 1969-2014|date=17 December 2012|website=www.ancestry.com|access-date=2019-03-15}}

File:Untitled Bowl by Marita Dingus.jpg, on loan from the Boise Art Museum]]

Early in her career Dingus was represented by Portland, Oregon's Fountain Gallery, which was helpful in getting her work out to a much wider audience.

Dingus' work has been favorably reviewed by critics. New York Times critic Ken Johnson noted Dingus is "a worthy lesser-known talent."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/30/arts/art-in-review-335908.html|title=Art in Review|last=Johnson|first=Ken|date=1998-01-30|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-03-16|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Tacoma News Tribune critic Rosemary Ponnekanti wrote, "Seattle artist Marita Dingus opens the Kittredge Gallery season with 'They Still Hold Us,' work that, through discarded and cast-off materials, references the persistence of cultural injustices that affect people of color."{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenewstribune.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article25878484.html|title=Critic's Picks: Marita Dingus at Kittredge, book art at the Collins, downtown theater tours and quilts at American Art Company|website=thenewstribune|language=en|access-date=2019-03-16}}

The Museum of Glass described Dingus' art from found objects: "Throughout her career, Dingus has chosen to make her creations with recycled materials, which adds an essential element to her already multi-layered and thought-provoking pieces. Exhibiting internationally and locally, Dingus’ work is a commentary on the slave trade, recycling, and the politics of poverty."{{Cite web|url=https://www.museumofglass.org/document.doc?id=41|title=Creating Connections Curriculum: Marita Dingus, About Face|date=2004|website=Museum of Glass|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429014205/https://www.museumofglass.org/document.doc?id=41|archive-date=29 April 2011|url-status=dead|access-date=14 March 2019}}

Regina Hackett of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said, "Seattle's Dingus is open-minded about what constitutes her material. Basically, it's whatever she lays her hands on and includes zippers, strips of cloth, light-bulb sockets, paper clips, tooth guards, paint brushes, bits of wire, computer innards, bent silverware, pacifiers, colored tape, paint, plastic and coarse thread."{{Cite web|url=https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/article/Conceived-of-bits-and-pieces-Marita-Dingus-1209425.php|title=Conceived of bits and pieces, Marita Dingus' babies are simply adorable|date=2006-07-21|website=seattlepi.com|access-date=2019-03-16}} Hackett added, "After two residencies at Pilchuck Glass School, she's making singular use of the medium. Some of her babies have glass faces with painted features, others have glass torsos also, fat and silky forms with an inherent sense of wiggle. It's a pleasure to walk into the room and feel these forms in active engagement around you."

“I consider myself an African-American Feminist and environmental artist. My approach to producing art is environmentally and politically infused: neither waste humanity nor the gifts of nature. I am primarily a mixed media sculptor who uses discarded materials. My art draws upon relics from the African Diaspora. The discarded materials represent how people of African descent were used during the institution of slavery and colonialism then discarded, but who found ways to repurpose themselves and thrive in a hostile world. I seek to use recovered materials, reconfiguring and incorporating them into pieces of art where possible and appropriate, and to mitigate waste and pollution in all my work. This is a creative challenge, but a commitment I incorporate into my professional and personal activities.”{{Cite web|date=|title=Marita Dingus at Traver Gallery|url=https://www.travergallery.com/artists/marita-dingus/|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=Traver Gallery}}

In 2018, Artist Trust announced Dingus as the recipient of the Irving and Yvonne Twining Humber Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.{{Cite web|url=https://artisttrust.org/index.php/news/press-release/artist_trust_announces_marita_dingus_as_the_2018_irving_and_yvonne_twining|title=Artist Trust Announces Marita Dingus as the 2018 Irving and Yvonne Twining Humber Award Recipient|date=29 May 2018|website=artisttrust.org|access-date=2019-03-15}} In 2017 she was named a Legacy Artist (Experimental Media) of the Museum of Northwest Art.{{Cite web|url=http://www.monamuseum.org/sept-13-2017-mona-luminaries-artist-awards|title=Sept. 13, 2017: MoNA Luminaries Artist Awards {{!}} MoNA|website=www.monamuseum.org|access-date=2019-03-15}} She was also honored in 2005 with the Morris and Joan Alhadeff PONCHO Artist of the Year award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucds.org/home/our-programs/extracurricular-programs/history-creative-fusion-mentor-artists/|title=A History: Creative Fusion Mentor Artists|date=Summer 2018|website=UCDS Schools|access-date=2019-03-15}} Earlier in her career, she received a Visual Art Fellowship from the Artist Trust in 1994, and a John S. Guggenheim Fellowship in 1999.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/marita-dingus/|title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation {{!}} Marita Dingus|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-16}}

• Washington's State Art Collection (ArtsWA | Washington State Art Collection){{Cite web|date=|title=ArtsWA My Public Art Portal {{!}} Artist Collection {{!}} Marita Dingus|url=https://www.arts.wa.gov/artist-collection/?request=record;id=1881;type=701|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=ArtsWA My Public Art Portal}}
• Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA{{Cite web|last=|date=|title=Tacoma Art Museum emuseum - Online Collection|url=http://tacoma.emuseum.com/emuseum/people/911/marita-dingus|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=Tacoma Art Museum}}
• Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA{{Cite web|date=|title=Seattle Art Museum emuseum - Online Collections|url=https://art.seattleartmuseum.org/people/8913/marita-dingus|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=Seattle Art Museum}}
• "Winds of Change: We Are Still Here" by Marita Dingus & Preston Hampton, a public art commission for Jackson Apartments, Vulcan Real Estate, Seattle, WA{{Cite web|title=Vulcan Real Estate Artwalk: "Winds of Change: We Are Still Here" by Marita Dingus & Preston Hampton|url=https://vulcanrealestate.com/Artwalk.aspx|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=Vulcan Real Estate}}
• Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA{{Cite web|title=The Art of Being: Feelings, Memories, and Imagination|url=https://www.museumofglass.org/the-art-of-being|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=Museum of Glass}}
• Douglass-Truth Branch Art, Seattle Public Library, Seattle, WA{{Cite web|title=Douglass-Truth Branch Art|url=https://www.spl.org/hours-and-locations/douglass-truth-branch/douglass-truth-branch-highlights/douglass-truth-branch-art|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=Seattle Public Library}}
• Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA{{Cite web|title=Five Women Artists: Marita Dingus|url=https://www.whatcommuseum.org/five-women-artists-marita-dingus/|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=Whatcom Museum|date=March 24, 2020 }}
• "Recycled Child" (2009), a public art commission at Seattle Central College in Seattle, Washington, that is part of Washington's State Art Collection.{{Cite web|title=Recycled Child (2009) by Marita Dingus, located at Seattle Central College, Seattle, WA|url=https://www.arts.wa.gov/artwork/?request=record;id=12111;type=101|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=ArtsWA, Washington's State Art Collection, www.arts.wa.gov/my-public-art-portal}}

{{Portal bar|Biography|Visual arts|United States}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|http://www.maritadingus.com//}}
• {{YouTube|title=Marita Dingus: Truth B Told|id=YPNYuFcPNeQ}} (video, 0:50)
• [https://vimeo.com/77820861 Marita Dingus] (video, 5:29)

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Category:1956 births

Category:20th-century American sculptors

Category:20th-century American women sculptors

Category:21st-century American sculptors

Category:21st-century American women sculptors

Category:Living people

Category:San Jose State University alumni

Category:Temple University alumni